Eyes | Amphibia

Chapter 6

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A week later

It wasn't just a dream. The Core's presence in her mind was very much real, unfortunately, though it didn't come as a surprise; it had felt real, and Marcy had the Ultra Stone to prove it, but still, that night those few days ago, she had held onto the thin thread of hope that it was all just a horrible nightmare and that she'd wake up that next morning to find that none of it was real.
Well, that thread had long since torn, viciously shattering any hope and chance she had left to be content with herself after everything that went down in Amphibia.

For the past few days Marcy had been getting mild headaches every now and again, but other than that, no interaction with The Core. Today was special though, because today was the day Marcy would be starting at her new school. Usually, Marcy didn't mind school—she actually quite enjoyed it—but admittedly, she was utterly terrified of going back. The last time she was in school was before Amphibia, which was awhile ago. She wasn't looking forward to being behind in all her classes, and the fact that she was starting at a new school with all new people in a different environment just added to the stress of it all. Unlike Saint James, Marcy's new school was a public school, meaning it was certainly going to be more hectic and a lot more crowded; one upside to this though was that she wouldn't have to wear a school uniform anymore, so she had complete freedom to wear whatever she wanted! She still ended up choosing something simple, though: a solid black hoodie with light-gray joggers.
Starting at a new school was also a chance for her to start fresh on a clean slate, but could she really do that with The Core still haunting her thoughts? Oh god, she really hoped it wouldn't bother her while she was at school— then her classmates would surely think she was crazy! How was she going to hide it, especially if those eyes appeared?!
Speaking of The Core, Marcy still had a bunch of questions about it as well as the Ultra Stone. Like, how did The Core get its hands on the stone if it only existed in her mind? There were so many things about this whole ordeal that didn't make sense to her. She wished she knew how to get into to the mindscape voluntarily to search for these answers herself, but until she could figure out how to do that, all she could do was wait until The Core summoned her there itself to try and find the answers to her many questions.
After quickly eating breakfast, Marcy grabbed her backpack, making sure it was closed before she got in the car where her mother met her soon after.
"You ready for your first day back, Mar-Mar?" She asked with a smile as she got into the car, glancing at Marcy through the rear-view mirror.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Marcy muttered sarcastically, staring vacantly out the window.
Mrs. Wu frowned as she started to drive. "Oh, Marcy... you'll be okay. I know it's scary, but just be yourself and try your best in all your classes, okay? Everything will be just fine."
"Yeah," Marcy forced a smile. "thanks, Mom." She then looked down to check her phone, her eyes widening a bit upon seeing a new message from Sasha pop up in her notifications. The message read: 'Have a good first day, Mars! Show that new school who's boss! 🤩' Marcy let go of a small laugh and quickly opened her phone to type out a response, however she was hesitant to send it at first; It had been a few days since she'd last had a proper conversation with Anne and Sasha, as she had been ignoring almost all of their calls and barely answering their texts, her responses usually being very dry and short whenever she did reply. She didn't enjoy doing that, not in the slightest, but ignoring them was far easier than lying to them about what was going on. She knew that if she continued to ignore everything they'd start to get suspicious, though, so before slipping her phone back into her pocket, Marcy went ahead and sent her response, which said: "Thanks, Sashy! And oh, I will; they won't know what hit 'em! :D'

When they arrived at the school, Marcy tightly gripped the straps of their backpack as they got out of the car. After saying goodbye to her mother, she took a deep breath as she made her way into the school. Upon entering the building, she immediately found herself immersed in overwhelming crowds of people—although her brain was probably making it out to be worse than it actually was. Some people didn't even seem to acknowledge her, while others eyed her with curiosity, presumably realizing they had never seen her before. Anxiously pushing her way through the crowds, Marcy searched for the guidance office, as she needed to go there to pick up her schedule. When she finally found it, she quickly stepped inside, relieved to have finally escaped the swarm of bodies in the lobby. "Hello! I'm Marcy Wu, new student; I'm here to pick up my schedule." She explained as she approached the lady at the front desk.
"Ah, Marcy! Yes, I've got it right here." The lady took a piece of paper from off her desk and handed it to Marcy with a welcoming smile. "I'm Mrs. Lewis, and I'll be your guidance counselor. Feel free to stop by whenever if you ever need anything; you can always find me here or in my office just over there." She pointed to a door to the left of her which had 'Mrs. Lewis' on it, and Marcy's eyes followed. She then looked back at the guidance counselor with a nod and a smile. "Okie-dokie, thank you! I'll keep that in mind." She waved goodbye to Mrs. Lewis with her free hand before she turned around to leave. "Bye!"
"Bye-bye! Have a good first day, Marcy!" Mrs. Lewis called out before Marcy walked out of the office.
Looking down at the paper Mrs. Lewis gave her, Marcy furrowed her eyebrows as she studied the schedule. "Okay, so homeroom is room one-twenty-four," she mumbled to herself, "and then I've got biology in room one-thirty—"
Suddenly crashing into someone, Marcy cut herself off and took a step back. Her cheeks heating up with embarrassment, She held onto her schedule tightly as she frantically apologized, "Oh my gosh, I am so sorr—"
"Oh, no worries at all!" The person she had collided with promptly replied as they turned around to face Marcy. The first thing Marcy noticed about them was the huge, luminous smile they carried their face. They were a few inches taller than Marcy in height, and they had dark skin and round features, as well as dark-green eyes. Freckles decorated their cheeks. They had pink, curly hair tied in two buns atop their head with numerous star clips in them, and they wore overalls on top of a pink-striped shirt. Marcy took note of the pins they wore on their overalls, especially the ones that had the aro-ace and non-binary flags on them. "Hey, I haven't seen you around before— are you new here?" They asked with a raise of their brow, which snapped Marcy out of her analysis of their appearance. "Huh?- Oh, yeah, today's my first day; I moved here about a week ago from LA."
"LA? That's so cool! Wait— Oh my god— wasn't there like, that crazy extraterrestrial invasion there recently?!"
Marcy went wide-eyed at their question, and her heart sank with guilt at the remembrance of the invasion. "How... do you know about that?..." Was all she could get herself to say, her voice trembling ever so slightly.
"It was all over the news, silly! There was this huge floating castle and that giant lizard guy, right? And he was defeated by that girl— I think her name was 'Anne'? And she had those super awesome blue powers, right? Wow, that sounds crazy when I say it aloud; I still can't believe it actually happened!"
"Yeah, that's right..." Marcy replied, her gaze lowering to the floor. "Anne was one of my best friends back home. What she did that day was absolutely incredible; she literally saved the world." Marcy couldn't help but smile at the fond memory of her beloved Anne, but the guilt she felt overpowered any of her other emotions in that moment, making those feelings of love feel like feelings of dread instead.
"Woahhh! You were friends with a literal superhero?! That's crazy! You'll have to tell me all about her sometime!" They smiled. Their eyes then widened as they were hit with what appeared to be a realization. "Oh my gosh, how could I forget to introduce myself?! I'm Anise Harrison, president of the robotics club, vice president of the student council, and captain of the school's softball team!" She grinned, clearly proud of her status here at school. "I'm also head of the debate club and a member of the dance team. I'm apart of a lot of other things too, but the list is too long to remember off the top of my head!"
Marcy's jaws parted with shock. How did Anise have time for all of those clubs and activities?! "Woah! You're involved in all that?! So then you must be super popular around here, aren't you?"
"Psshhh, I wouldn't say that..." as Anise was saying that, a group of around four or five people walked past them, excitedly waving and greeting them. With a large smile on her face Anise returned the greetings, then turned their attention back to Marcy, bashfully rubbing the back of their neck. "Okay, so maybe I am a little popular here at school, but that's just what happens when you join a million clubs and get involved in everything you can!" They chuckled. "Anyways, what about you? I mean— what's your name, 'n stuff?"
"Oh! I'm Marcy, Marcy Wu. I can't really say much else since I've only been at this school for about five minutes, but at my old school I was involved in a couple extracurriculars! I was head of the chess club, president of the young architects fellowship at my school, and also helped out backstage in the plays the school put on; I spent most of my time studying and playing video games, though. I can also play the drums and the violin!" She explained with a small smile. There was a lot more she could say, like all of her accomplishments in Amphibia (it'd be easier to explain since Anise already knew about the invasion), but whichever way she thought about that place she still ended up feeling that horrible, horrible guilt, so she decided to leave her introduction at that for now.
"Cool! Well, it's nice to meet you, Marcy!" Anise smiled. "We've got a chess club here too, you should totally join!" This seemed to pique Marcy's interest, but before she had the chance to say anything in response, Anise excitedly asked, "Ooh, can I see your schedule? I want to see if we've got any classes together!"
"Oh, sure!" Marcy nodded, handing Anise her schedule and watching as their eyes scanned over it.
"Woah! All honors and AP classes? Impressive!" Anise pointed out, which put a bashful smile on Marcy's face. "Hmmm... oh! We've got english together fifth period, and lunch right after! You're welcome to sit with me and my friends at our lunch table if you want— I'm sure they'd be okay with it, they're really nice!"
Marcy's pupils enlarged, as did her smile. Five minutes at this school, and she already had a potential new friend who was inviting her to sit with them at lunch. Maybe getting over Anne and Sasha wouldn't be too hard after all— that's what Marcy was telling herself, anyways.
When she thought of forgetting Anne and Sasha, though, she felt a small pain shoot through her head.
"Sure, I-I'd love to!" Marcy happily replied, ignoring the pain despite it absolutely terrifying her.
"Awesome!" Anise smiled. They then glanced down at their phone to check the time. "Oh! The bells about to ring; do you want me to walk you to your homeroom?"
"Oh yes, please." Marcy pleaded with a chuckle, "I have absolutely no idea where I'm going! But won't that make you late to your own homeroom?"
"Maybe, but it's okay! When I tell the teacher I was helping a new student get to their class, he'll praise me instead of scold me! Besides, all the teachers in this school love me, so I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Okay— if you say so!" Marcy answered, and with that she followed closely behind Anise as they led her to room 124. Anise seemed to be well-known and well-liked by the entire school, and they certainly weren't ashamed to flaunt it; could it be Marcy had already befriended one of the most popular people at this school?! That was too much pressure on her first day here! Anise could completely ruin her reputation if they wanted to, but they didn't seem like the type to do that— Marcy still couldn't help but worry though, especially considering the... "predicament" she was in. Luckily, her head wasn't bothering her anymore.
When the two arrived at room 124, Anise smiled and handed Marcy back her schedule. "Alright! Have fun in there!" They chuckled.
"I'll try," Marcy giggled. "Thanks for walking me here, Anise. See ya' at english!"
"No problem! Bye, Marcy!"
And then Marcy walked inside.